


Fated

by Nerdwithapen



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Blood and Injury, End of the World, F/M, First Kiss, Near Death Experiences, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:26:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26615182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nerdwithapen/pseuds/Nerdwithapen
Summary: The moment that followed Hyrule's lost war and Zelda's crumbling sobs into Link's arms. There is no point fighting the inevitability of death, but there's comfort in knowing nothing matters. Drabble based on the beautiful art by Helimarr."In the battlefield, there is no place for hope. What lies there is only cold despair and a sin called victory, built on the pain of the defeated." — Emiya Kiritsugu
Relationships: Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 17
Kudos: 111





	Fated

> Drabble based on the beautiful art by [Helimarr](https://helimarr.tumblr.com/post/617852594230067200/its-because-of-your-suggestions-i-draw-these). 
> 
> **"In the battlefield, there is no place for hope. What lies there is only cold despair and a sin called victory, built on the pain of the defeated."** _— Emiya Kiritsugu_

* * *

Zelda did not know war. She knew _of_ it, had read many leather-bound books on the subject, studied multiple strategies, glanced over painfully detailed illustrations. These things were not **war,** though. They barely scratched the surface. Books did not mention the stench of _blood and sweat and death._ Strategies did not say how to handle a _clenched heart_ when loved ones were faced withswords and beams of concentrated power. Illustrations did not show the little stuffed toy left behind, never to be held by its child again. 

Vah Naboris was the first of the Divine Beasts to be infiltrated. It was clear that something was wrong the moment its power ceased, paused as though in stasis, little more than a tall statue of stone. **There was nothing they could do.** Link had his hands full defending against Bokolin's, Moblin's, Lizalfro's, Wizards— and he defeated them, one by one, while Zeldaprayedin the growing expanse of mud, knees on the ground in submission as she curled inward and whispered her fevered pleas. 

" _Hylia, Goddess of Light, Protector of Hyrule, You Who Share My Blood—_ " 

A Lizalfro shrieked as Link's blade drove through its neck, his grunt rising above the sound. 

" _I ask for Your guidance, I ask for Your light, I ask for Your aid to release my power—_ " 

Link's grunt. A man's not too distant cry. 

" _Grant me my power so I may serve Hyrule in Your name—_ " 

Crying. Grunting. Shrieking. 

" _Give me power, I will serve You, give me power, I will fight for You, give me power—_ " 

Vah Ruta fell. 

" _Hylia, Goddess of Light, Protector of Hyrule, You Who Share My Blood—_ " 

Vah Rudania fell. 

" _I ask for Your aid, grant me power—_ " 

Link's grunt. A Boboklin's shriek. Groaning and yelling and orders and clanging of steel against steel against flesh. 

" _Let me protect them—_ "

Vah Medoh fell. 

" _ **Hylia, please!**_ " 

The Castle of Hyrule fell. 

Zelda felt the weight of grief consuming her chest like a parasite, eating hungrily at everything she had, ripping out her heart and gorging on its core. Her father was no longer visible from his tower, and yet their soldiers honored his last command, fighting and dying against the growing wave of strength that engulfed them. They were losing— _no._ **They had lost.**

Link knew. In all the time she had known him, her knight never ran from a fight, yet at that moment, he grabbed her hand and yanked her from the ground. He led them away from the castle and into the forest, pausing only to shoot arrows at the enemies who attempted to follow, his movements _quick and precise and deadly_ upon every impact. They kept running. There was a loud, shuddering burst of dark energy from the castle. They kept running. Their enemies fell far behind and lost their trail, growls, and snorts and shrills fading from earshot. **They kept running.**

Everyone was gone. They had lost. Hylia, even then, had refused to answer her call. How despicable must Zelda have been for the Goddess to deny her power, _**even then?**_

_ You are the heir to a throne of nothing: nothing but failure.  _

She didn't know where Link planned on running to. Perhaps he didn't, either. His hand gripped hers so tightly that on some level, Zelda recognized that it hurt, but the pain didn't quite register. She grabbed his just as hard. Then tears began to choke her throat, and she couldn't breathe. Her legs became weak, and her hold on him slipped. The mud beneath her sandals slicked, and Zelda fell in the one moment that Link loosened his hold. He stopped and spun to look at her, eyes wide, searching for danger but finding nothing. Nothing but Zelda on her hands and knees, panting and gripping the earth beneath her hands as though she could strangle an answer out of it. 

" _How?_ " She asked in a broken whisper. " _How did this happen?_ "

There was the sharp shrill of the Master Sword retreating to its sheath and Link knelt before her. Rain began to pelt against Zelda's back, cold and pitiless. She spoke the words that seemed impossible; _the Divine Beasts, their best defense, were now Calamity Ganon's and the Champions were trapped within them._ It was all due to Zelda's inability to be worthy of the power that was supposedly hers by birthright. Everything she had done up until this point had been for **nothing.** She truly was a failure; the sacrifices of those she loved proven meaningless. Her subjects, her Champions— strong, loving Urbosa _(had her death been quick?)_ Gentle, brave Mipha _(she must have been so scared.)_ Good-hearted, faithful Daruk _(did he regret trusting her?)_ Confident, unyielding Revali _(he had surely fought to the end.)_ **H** **er father.** All dead in vain, all dead because _she had failed them._

The barrier Zelda had wrapped so carefully around her heart was ruined, and as she cried out in a painful wail reserved only for the mourning and forlorn, her body slumped into Link's arms. It was the only place that seemed safe. Sobs shook her shoulders, and wordless grief tore at the skin in her throat, stripping it raw, but her cries only came harder in retaliation. She gripped Link’s shirt as he held her. It had taken so many hours to sew the blue tunic he wore. But oh, how **proud** she had been as they'd stood before her father, displaying her Champions for the world to acknowledge. 

_She didn't want to be proud anymore._ Hylia could give her every ounce of burden and shame, she had earned it, _deserved it,_ and would shoulder the weight willingly if only things could return as they were. Yet that wasn't an option. There was nothing left to do but face their own eventual deaths, for they could only run so far, _and Calamity Ganon would always run further._

**It wasn't fair.** Zelda slipped her arm around Link's torso as she buried her face against his chest, calming her thoughts by focusing on the rapid drumming of his heart. She wondered if his heartbeat was always so fast after battle. Her tears began to taste bitter at the realization that she had dreamt in quiet dreams of being held in his arms so many times. It was the smallest indulgence she allowed herself, but their embrace was never meant to be in this way. The moment which she had hoped would be sweet and tender was now stained by _blood_ and _sweat_ and _death_ and _rain_ and _her tears._ Zelda wondered if it was punishment. Yet Hylia had never been known to be a jealous Goddess, and it had only been an **innocent dream** , nothing more. _She had been good._ She hadn't done anything, had kept true to her purpose and devotion, had turned away so many who flickered at her heart. **She had been good.**

Goodness had yielded her nothing, though. Zelda's sobbing wore itself out, sputtering until her emotions dried, and Links hold on her never wavered. He didn't speak. She didn't expect him to _(what was there to say?)_ His heart continued to pulse erratically against her cheek. A numb, logical voice in Zelda's mind said that they should get up and keep running. Ganon's creatures would find them eventually if they didn't continue to move, and it was their duty to survive for however long they could. 

She didn't want to. It seemed so futile to fight something that had already won. They were going to die anyway, her and Link, it was only a matter of _when._ Something about that thought was calming, though. At least soon it would be over. **Everything.** _The pain, the whispers, the humiliation, the grief, the failure—_ what did it all matter if they were no longer around to experience it? Zelda wondered if they would still be reborn as the prophecy said. Ganon would suck the world dry of its life and leave it a crumbling ruin, so perhaps they wouldn't. Perhaps this was the true end of it all, the destruction of a cycle that was once thought to be eternal. 

The rain continued to fall, and where it had once been painful upon her skin, now it seemed like **reverence.** It was possible that this would be the last rain to ever fall upon the Earth, as though fate was intent on cleansing the blood which soaked its surface before a final farewell. Zelda took a breath. Then another. She wanted to see Link. If there was nothing else for the world to give, if it was preparing to empty itself of all who had ever known it, then she wanted to at least see Link once more. 

Yet when she pulled back, trails on her cheeks where tears had flowed through dirt, her green eyes couldn't rise to meet him. She had failed so many people. Failed **him.** The shame still felt so heavy on her neck, domineering and cruel. Even so— **_even so,_** her heart retained an ounce of selfishness, and Link stayed so very close. He always stayed close, no matter what came. There was a day when she had stomped her foot at his loyalty but was it any wonder that he won her over in the end? 

_Could she truly be blamed for loving him the way that she did, when Link was the way that he was?_

Perhaps Hylia was a jealous Goddess, after all. Perhaps She hated how Link held a part of Zelda's heart that she had not tried to shut close, and perhaps that was her mistake. It didn't matter now. They would be gone soon enough, and Hylia could choose her fate then, could rebirth her into a world of desolation or dissolve her into true nothingness. For now, Link was with her. For now, he was close, and her lips weren't far from his, and when she tilted her chin up they were even closer, _he was closer,_ and it wouldn't take much to **indulge** as Zelda had never truly **indulged** before. There was no reason not to. Beneath the scent of a battlefield, there was simply Link, and it reminded her of a wild wind. 

They would die, anyway. They had lost, anyway. _Why not,_ her mind begged, _why not?_

Link was the source of temptation and resistance. It made sense now why Hylia preferred him over her, for Zelda was selfish, and the Chosen Hero was noble. She couldn't drag him down to her level. Whatever punishment awaited, he didn't deserve it. However delicious the heat from his mouth might taste, it was not hers to take. Zelda squeezed her shut eyes ever tighter as though she could will her vile heart away and lowered her chin. She felt Link's hand cup her face, comforting and warm and more than she deserved. In the space between their chests, she breathed the words, " _I'm sorry._ " 

Then Link's other hand was upon her, calloused fingers splayed across her cheek, **passionate** and **desperate** as the kiss he pressed to her lips. He tasted better than Zelda's darkest thoughts had ever imagined. While his hands were rough, his lips were so _unbelievably soft,_ and it seemed as though they melted against her like the honey he so loved to drizzle upon baked apples. _It was wonderful._

Zelda's sob broke the kiss, short and sharp as it tore open her mouth to cry, but before Link could pull away she tugged him closer **.** Her lips were on his and her hands slipped around his neck, up into his hair, fingers tangling themselves in everything that was **him**. He was covered in dirt and sweat and other's blood, and he was **perfect.** Hylia was right to be jealous. 

She moved her kiss to the corner of his mouth, his temple, his forehead. 

_I love you._

He kissed her cheek, her neck, her shoulder. 

_I love you._

Her hands gripped the sides of his face. His hands gripped the back of her head. Their lips met once more and refused to be parted, the heat necessary as air. If what they did was indeed desecration, then sacrilege was sweet and worth damnation. 

_I love you._

At that moment, Zelda decided that Link would not die. _She_ would, and that was fine, perhaps that was the way it was always meant to be— **but he would live.** When it came time, she would tell him to run _(he wouldn't listen)_ , she would tell him to leave her _(he never would)_ , and she would defend him _(she didn't know how.)_ Hylia could have her failed reincarnation and do with her as She saw fit, but Link was no longer _Her_ Chosen Hero. He was Zelda’s, and he was all she had. He was the only person she loved left to protect, and losing him was not an option. 

She would have spent an eternity with him. But eternity was brought to a close by the familiar, almost musical beeping of a Guardian preparing to attack. Ever the knight, Link was quick to shove Zelda behind him and draw the Master Sword once more, plunging it into the Guardian’s glowing blue eye. He defeated it. More came. He stabbed the inner workings of their gears, slashed their mechanical legs, and reflected parts of their blasts with a well timed tilt of his blade. Over and over, the Guardian’s challenged him, drawing them out of the forest. Over and over, Link laid them slain amongst patches of flames left in his trail of destruction. 

But Link, for all his bravery, was not immortal. His strength waned, his speed slowed, and little by little, even The Hero of Hyrule would fall. 


End file.
